Vancouver Canucks jerseys are like Taylor Swift albums: There’s one for every era.
When you see the “Flying Skate,” images of Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure instinctively pop into your mind. The original orca jerseys draw memories of the West Coast Express line; the blue and green orcas belong to the Sedins and the current jerseys are for Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes (though the difference between the latter two is underwhelming).
It extends to the early days of the franchise, too — The “Flying V” was the banner of Stan Smyl and Thomas Gradin, while the stick-in-rink belongs to Orland Kurtenbach and the rest of the original squad.
But when you see the Edmonton Oilers’ current setup, do you associate it with Wayne Gretzky, Taylor Hall or Connor McDavid? It’s a nice jersey, with a rich history, but that history was tainted by their first-overall pick era of the early 2010s.
An unfortunate trend
Nostalgia tells fans that jerseys from the past are superior, so rather than designing a new sweater for diehards to add to their collections, teams just lazily bring back the old ones.
It’s unfortunate.
The Washington Capitals, for example, got plenty of good feedback when they introduced the red version of the “Screaming Eagle” as their Reverse Retro in 2021. But on Monday, they revealed an almost identical jersey (with a few changes to the striping) — and they expect fans to pretend they don’t already have the same ones hanging up in their closets?
The New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers have both limited their fans’ closets to the same two colors and hardly any logo variation for nearly 60 years.
And that’s without mentioning the Original Six teams, which, with a few exceptions, have rolled out the exact same jerseys for an entire century. They seem to believe tweaking anything would constitute sacrilege.
If Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidström jerseys are all the same as the ones the players currently wear, why would fans spend money on a new Lucas Raymond jersey?
The Red Wings, like the Capitals, released a “new” third jersey on Monday, though a casual fan would never know it was different than their regular ones.
The one positive thing about this unveiling is the fact that the sponsor’s logo is now on the shoulder, rather than the chest. Especially with a jersey like that of the Red Wings, there isn’t enough room for anything extra on the front because the tip of the wing extends to where the captains’ letters are.
In 2024-25, the Red Wings’ first year with a jersey sponsor, they moved Dylan Larkin’s “C” to the left side to let the company’s logo have more space. That’s where most teams have it (and frankly where it belongs for everyone else), but the Red Wings had it on the right since Reebok started manufacturing the jerseys in 2007, and it had become a cool tidbit that the Wings got an exception to the rule.
If every team were to do that, jerseys could be so much cleaner — especially when there’s a Stanley Cup Final patch added to the mix (which made the Oilers’ and Panthers’ jerseys far too crowded this spring).
Productive jersey changes in the NHL this year
Being a young franchise, Seattle Kraken fans don’t have many jerseys to choose from yet. But they took a step in the right direction last week when they dropped a glow-in-the-dark kit with an all-new color scheme.
The Ottawa Senators likewise unveiled a new and exciting jersey with plenty of gold trim. These are sure to fly off the shelves.
What should the Utah Mammoth’s next jersey look like?
I’ve given some controversial opinions today, but here’s one that everyone will agree on: The Utah Mammoth need a powder-blue jersey.
They occasionally donned powder-blue practice jerseys last year, and they were absolutely gorgeous. While the team doesn’t have an official game jersey in that color, some knockoff manufacturers have recognized the market for them — and fans are buying them.
The team might as well capitalize off of that opportunity and give the people what they want.
Of course, with everything else going on regarding the rebrand and the major construction efforts, nobody should blame them for not having produced them yet. But next year could present the perfect opportunity to roll them out.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman hinted in May that Salt Lake City would be a great place to have an outdoor game (and he even implied that Rice-Eccles Stadium could host it). Teams almost always release new jerseys for outdoor games — and a cool powder-blue would go along perfectly with the winter theme.